A taste of Puglia

An introduction to Puglia

Rich with the tastiest pickings from land and sea, Puglia, down in the heel of Italy, is a languid, sun-baked region whose
food secrets are too good not to be shared, says gourmet Lisa
Grainger.

Life goes on in Puglia as though the 21st century had never
arrived. People live as their grandparents did: a bit of farming or
fishing in the morning, a siesta from 1pm to 6pm (it's worth noting
that nothing is open after lunch) and in the evening, a swim,
perhaps, a gentle promenade through town, and then a slow, hearty
meal made from local ingredients.

Puglia is Italy's poorest region, where most people still
live off the land. Thanks to its porous but mineral-rich limestone
soil, proximity to the sea and hot summers, this is also where
Italy's most delicious food is produced: big, fat, purple and green
figs, long stems of velvet-red tomatoes; bunches of herbs still
dusted with salt from the air; artichokes that thrive in sandy
coastal fields; and peppers so sweet they are served as a sort of
pudding at the end of a feast. Grand it is not, but bountiful it
is.

To get a taste of southern Italy, I flew into Bari and based myself in
four very different places: Savalletri, Lecce, Gallipoli and
finally into the neighbouring province of Matera.

Savelletri - Part 1

'You have to remember that in Puglia people only ever ate lamb at Christmas
or Easter,' says Vittorio Muolo, owner of Masseria
Torre Maizza (doubles from about £250), a converted
16th-century farmhouse near the seaside village of Savelletri.
'Otherwise, it has always been vegetables or fish. People ate what
they could gather from their immediate surroundings - and that
tradition lives on.'

There isn't a single thing on Muolo's breakfast table that isn't
local and traditional. Big, white ceramic platters overflow with 20
varieties of fruit; cake stands are piled high with oozing lemon
loaves and pies filled with juicy plums; there are breads, thick
jams, and sheep's, goat's and cow's cheeses (including mozzarella,
pecorino, stracchino, ricotta and little balls of fresh burrata,
from which cream streams out).

Pictured: olive trees

Savelletri - Part 2

Because it's so hot in summer (40ºC in late July), the best
place to be come lunchtime is on the beach with a picnic from a
deli or at one of the beach clubs and restaurants such as hip
Porto Ghiacciolo (00 39 346 223 7762) near Santo
Stefano beach (between Monopoli and Savelletri on Puglia's north coast), having spaghetti or
clams or sauteed mussels with a beer for less than €10. In any
case, lunch is not taken very seriously here and is likely to be
simple, perhaps a tuna or Caprese salad or a herb-sprinkled square
of foccacia with salad and cheese, along with a glass of cold
prosecco, a watermelon-vodka cocktail served in a small melon or
the local speciality: lemon soda with a sprig of mint.

'We Italians are very lazy on holiday. We wake up late, have
breakfast, then like to sleep on the beach - and play at night,'
says Davide Zigrino, the chef behind the menu at the cool
restaurant at Lido Bosco Verde (about £30
for two), a long, white room overlooking a terrace shaded with
olive trees just outside Savelletri. 'So many places don't really
have guests until 3pm or 4pm. People eat later, when it's
cool.'

Pictured: Santa Stefano beach

Where to eat in Savelletri

Chef Zigrino learnt to cook from his mother, went abroad, and
came back keen to add a contemporary twist to Puglia's traditional recipes. At the Lido
Bosco Verde restaurant he produces delicious, unfussy
dishes: carpaccio of tuna, prawns and scampi; seafood soup with
courgette flowers; home-made spaghetti with clams and salicornia (a
local succulent, and one of many wild plants used here); and
polpette (deep-fried balls of octopus, cheese, breadcrumbs and
eggs) served on wafer-thin vegetables drizzled with onion oil.

Also recommended in Savelletri is Da Pino e
Vincenzo, a tiny sea-urchin shop on the
harbour, run for more than 40 years by Benjamin Pignatelli, where
fresh urchins are cut open each morning (€1 for three).Pescharia 2 Mari, a
glass-cube restaurant on the seafront, serves just-caught fish as
sushi on an umbrella-covered deck.

Lecce

Contemporary takes on Puglian food are unusual in
this region, where there's still a fierce pride in home-style
cooking using foraged ingredients and recipes concocted centuries
ago. And no chef embraces the traditional more than Anna Carmela
Perrone atLe Zie Trattoria(00 39
0832 245178; about £50 for two) in Lecce. It may be a funny old
room, with battered furniture and random paintings hung at odd
angles, on a characterless street in a charming bit of the city,
but the place heaves with foodies who can't get enough of Perrone's
creations, made (by women only) with ingredients from Salento, Puglia's southern strip. Her dishes include
daily-madeorecchiette(the local ear-shaped
pasta) with fresh herbs, her mother's sun-dried tomatoes and her
aunt's olive oil, broadbean purée with chicory
(fave e cicoria), pasta with
chickpeas and rocket (ciceri e
tria), and a heavenly almond-milk jelly sprinkled
with just-roasted almonds.

Gallipoli

A couple of hours' drive from Lecce, in the little island town
of Gallipoli, lives chef Marcello Caricola. He's so obsessed with
fresh seafood that he walks twice a day to the pretty harbour where
fishermen sell their catch. Apparently, some fish are best caught
in the morning (lobster; urchins); others, in the evening (pesce
azzurro, as they call blue-scaled fish here). All of which he
serves raw at the family-owned Il
Bastione restaurant with a drizzle of green olive oil
and a wedge of lemon.

His antipasto fritto misto was, without doubt,
the best I tasted in Puglia: a platter with chilli and saffron
prawns; a swordfish wrap, stuffed with raisins, pinenuts, mint and
Parmesan; delicately battered cod; mackerel baked in a
salt-and-herb crust; and grilled octopus served on a potato, celery
and lemon-zest salad. It was all helped along with a glass of Five
Roses rose, made from Puglia's Negroamaro grape, which is now
exciting winemakers throughout Italy.

Pictured: a fig tart at Il Bastione

Where to eat in Gallipoli

Stay at Palazzo Mosco Inn(doubles from about £70), a tiny former palace
in the centre of Gallipoli island, with cosy rooms, a roof terrace
and friendly staff. For drinks, the super-cool shop/barBlanc(00 39 0833 263 499) is owned by an
architect and sells cheese, salamis and cocktails bursting with
herbs and lemons. Stop intoPorta Terra by
the seafront for excellent slices of hazelnut or chocolate spumone:
the local ice-cream speciality, its centre filled with
alcohol-steeped cake and nuts. For oils, biscuits and other treats,
head toSalento Store(00 39 0833
263555).

Matera

Just over the border in the neighbouring province of
Basilicata, Matera is unmissable for its
overwhelming beauty. Until the 1950s it was home to thousands of
cave-dwellers, and there are cave cathedrals dating back more than
1,000 years. After a long day walking up and down streets in the
town, the menu atIl Cantuccio(00 39
0835 332090; about £35 for two), just off the main square, looked
irresistible. Bread, pasta, cheese and vegetables are the
trattoria's specialities, served on little tables down a cobbled
alley. Each of the six mixed antipasti dishes was a knockout; a
fine, light herb omelette; figs stuffed with ricotta; aubergine
with raisins, tomatoes and a burnt-balsamic reduction; potato cake
with smoked veal and peppers; a whole smoked chilli baked to a
crisp; and slices of steamed courgette with white-wine vinaigrette
and toasted fennel seeds.

I thought I couldn't manage another morsel, but
later that night, after a midnight promenade with the citizens of
Matera, I chanced upon a gelateria with slightly bonkers artwork,
including a metal sculpture of a Russian witch hanging from the
ceiling. I have never tasted creations like those atI
Vizi degli Angeli. The Roman owners, Leonardo de
Angelis and Valeria Vizziello, are culinary magicians, spiriting up
tongue-tingling sorbets with tangerine and basil, lollies bursting
with fresh fruit, just-made ice creams flavoured with lavender and
blueberry, salted liquorice, toasted pinenuts and pistachio - and
so the extraordinary list goes on.

Pictured:breakfast at Sextantio Le Grotte
della Civita, Matera

Ice cream in Matera

On my last evening in Matera's old town - yellow lights
turning the cobbled streets into golden rivers, the full moon
illuminating a simple cross on the cave monasteries - I wondered
why it is only now we are discovering Puglia and southern Italy as a foodie destination. It sounds
absurd, but with a rosemary-infused raspberry lolly in my hand and
that timeless view before me, I felt quite emotional. The
combination of artisanal food and rich culture is a potent one, and
Puglia has an abundance of both.

WHERE TO STAY & EAT IN MATERASextantio Le
Grotte della Civita (doubles from about £85) is a
charming 18-room hotel built in caves on the hillside. Room 18 has
an egg-shaped bath that contrasts with the rough, hand-chiselled
walls. For a lunchtime, thin-crust pizza and a beer, try Il
Boccone del Musicista (00 39 0835 332881); Oi
Mari is a cosy pizzeria for dinner. For pastas, olive
oils, Lucanica herb sausages and local wines, Il
Buongustaio (00 39 0835 331982) is brilliant and owner
Samuel Olivieri is on hand to help you choose.